Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Spring Clean: organizing by manufacturer or color?

A couple of years ago, I saw my favorite scrappy girl, Stacy Julian, talk about organizing by color.
It was life-changing!!
I couldn't wait to reorganize my entire stash by color. Slowly but surely - I've gotten there and it has been such a great thing for me.

I've always had my cardstock by color (of course), in my lovely file drawers made for 12x12 paper.
(They are made by Crop in Style which is no longer in business.)

I try very hard to only have full 8.5x11 and 12x12 pieces in here. Everything else gets cut down to 4x6...

My embellishments are in color bins which I've shown you before....

So that leaves my patterned paper which is such a long story that it needs its own post! Look for that tomorrow.

Today I want to talk to you about the only exception to my color organization.

It is my stash of October Afternoon paper - I call it "my beloved."

It's the one company that I keep separate because each line is so perfectly coordinated that I want all the embellishments with the paper.

It used to be like this...

All the paper was in a stack, the label stickers were together and the embellishments together.

But as my stash grew - I decided to sort it by collection name.

I laid it all out on my desk the other day and sorted it into piles.

Midway went together - Cakewalk together, etc.

Then I realized, I needed a way to keep up with what I owned so I didn't purchase it again!

I don't usually see October Afternoon in person at a store, but when I do, I try to buy it.

So I typed up this inventory sheet and marked off each item I own!

(I know you are thinking I have way too much time on my hands but I was probably avoiding housework.)

I plan to scan this into my computer, e-mail it to myself and have it on my phone when I'm shopping.

After it was all sorted, I ended up with three plastic files of October Afternoon.

I like this size file (that I buy at Hobby Lobby) because it is sturdy, has a handle and fits perfectly into my storage cubes:

As you can see - I did buy that Christmas Word Sticker twice! See why I needed the list??

If you're wondering why I made the exception to my color rule for October Afternoon when there are obviously loads of companies who have collections, it's because OA is the one line that I savor so much, I only use it on my most favorite projects. Okay, honestly - I've rarely used it at all! I'm trying to change that in 2013 but I just love it so much that I enjoy owning it even without using it.

Plus, I have very specific projects in mind for some of this.

For instance, the 9 to 5 line - I have an index card with a mini-album idea sketched out about all the jobs I've ever had in an office.

I'm using the Camp themed OA for a Girl Scout mini.

I'm using the latest Christmas line for December Daily.

I'll use Midway for Fair pictures and I want to use some for my upcoming Disney album.

So it's really the only line that I think of in terms of "what am I going to make with this?" instead of,

"I'm making something and I need a pink heart or an orange label, etc. to finish this page."

I organized everything by manufacturer for years because I know papers by their manufacturer, however, when I would go to make something, I never thought, "Oh a piece of Doodlebug would look great here!" No! I thought, "I need pink, green and red." Now I can quickly find those.

But I guess there really is an exception to every rule - even my color rule.

7 comments:

I wish they still had those file drawers:) I like how you organized your embellishments. I wish I had a little more space to do that. I have all of my stuff in a big box. But it works for me. It made me LOL when you called your OA line "beloved!" I refer to things as my "precious" sometimes!

As there are a lot of different methods to organize your papers, files, and documents, the best way to know what you should follow is to determine which of them would work for you the best. Some put labels on each of the folders or binders while some are just like you who do it by color. Whatever suits you. The most important part is that you get to organize your papers and you keep it like that.Ruby @ Williams Data Management

about me

Hand Lettering Artist, Certified Scrapbook Instructor and Host of Live Inspired and The Scrap Gals podcasts. I am passionate about the art of memory keeping and storytelling. I love beautiful photographs, the smell of paper in the morning, pink roses, farmhouses, hymns, making new friends and everything artsy.